WWE TV 8/29-9/4

[Strummer]

Re : after the Steph/Heyman segment the announcers treated it as a serious moment so I *think* that was supposed to be the tone but like others have said I have no idea. That was so weird

[Loss]

I don't think we'll ever get WWE vs NXT unless they are willing to blow up the NXT brand. There's no way for it to end where NXT would remain viable when it was over. And I suspect they know that.

[sek69]

It could be why they've been stockpiling guys that serve no further purpose being in developmental though. I'm sure that's giving them way too much credit for long term planning,

[Loss]

They are trying to draw on the road. They need guys at a certain level to do that.

[The Chief]

Another completely out of the blue Smackdown signing: The Headbangers

[goc]

I am pretty sure they are just there to lose to Heath Slater and Rhyno and then disappear again. Have not seen anything that they've made a full time return like other such luminaries as Curt Hawkins and Jinder Mahal.

[FMKK]

Hope Smackdown lives up to last week's great show. Interesting to see if that Miz promo actually leads anywhere.

[goc]

Hope Smackdown lives up to last week's great show. Interesting to see if that Miz promo actually leads anywhere.

Seems likely since they've opened the show with a replay of it.

[FMKK]

Miz was heeling well but what has he actually done wrong in kayfabe here?

[Superstar Sleeze]

I feel in the minority because I think Sheamus is better than Cesaro. I honestly don't think that the best-of-seven series is going to do either of them any favors though.

I agree with this post wholeheartedly. Sheamus as a New Japan main eventers would be bitchin

[FMKK]

In all fairness, that ended up being pretty heated and getting over well. Ziggler has been so much better on promos recently.

[C.S.]

So, they've already wasted that awesome Miz speech and moment by saddling him in an inconsequential feud with the irrelevant Dolph Ziggler.

[Strummer]

Damn a Miz/Dolph segment in 2016 having that much heat. Unreal

[FMKK]

Is Apollo Crews new gimmick actually going to be spelling?

[C.S.]

Is Apollo Crews new gimmick actually going to be spelling?

 

If so, I have three letters for him.

 

N-X-T

 

He never should've been called up. He's not ready, not over at all (and wasn't over even in NXT), and needs more time to develop his character and mic skills.

[jcmmnx]

That was easily the best Crews has looked on the MR so far. AJ is so good right now. Miz was awesome yet again in the opening promo.

[Strummer]

At home with Heath Slater!!! Fantastic !!!

[The Chief]

Holy crap that was the funniest thing on WWE TV in ages. Rhyno! EZ-Cheez!

[World's Worst Man]

Rhyno was incredible there. The long, nonchalant shoulder shrug is my kind of humour.

[C.S.]

I thought the Heath Slater segment was overlong and unfunny, but I will agree that Rhyno ruled in it. He should've been a comedic silent type all along.

[Laz]

When the shit did Bray get the white boy dreads?

[FMKK]

He's had them since the start of the summer I think. I vaguely recall him having them during the New Day feud.

[hammerva]

With all the people that the WWE is trying to bring back out of wrestling obscurity, it would have been something if they brought in Nidia for that segment given her love for rednecks from West Virginia.

 

Unless that actually was Nidia

[Laz]

I miss Nidia. Her and Noble were great together.

[anarchistxx]

Kevin Owens is horrendous - nothing is believable or natural at all, from his mannerisms to his his ring work to his his promos. He also has the worst look of any WWE champion in history - unshaven face, 3/4 length shorts, baggy vest covering up his pasty torso and beer belly. If you flicked over and saw he was the champion you would not be impressed.

 

He is an awful worker as well, has no idea how to build a match or get a crowd involved without just resorting to throwing bombs and working endless finisher trading sequences that devalue anything. Every match is worked like a parody overkill version of a ROH main event, wherever on the card he is or whoever he is facing. He is formulaic as fuck, but smarks don't seem to mind because his formula is cosplaying Puro main events and desperately trying to rouse a 'this is awesome' chant.

 

If he really wanted to heel it up he would bully jobbers in boring squash matches and work slow main events with lots of subtle heeling and cheating. He doesn't have the skill or gimmick to be a workrate champion or the look/charisma to be a dominant man on top. It's weird, I remember everyone complaining in 2004 how limited and eventless WWE matches were, when the likes of Benoit had his moveset reduced to about four moves so he could work the monotonous, slow WWE style. Crazy how far in the other direction it has gone now.

 

I did sort of enjoy the surrealism of Kevin Steen beating Tyler Black for the World Title on Raw.

 

Still, on a roster where you have Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, John Cena, Seth Rollins, Triple-H, AJ Styles and with Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura and KENTA on NXT there is zero reason to have Kevin fucking Owens and Dean Ambrose as your champions. Neither have any sort of aura or credibility - for a start they have spent the last year jobbing 50% of the time in random television matches, before you even get onto the fact they both look like shit.